The Psychology Book (23 page)

Rosalie Rayner, he turned to a

mother was devoutly religious.

career in advertising while still

Watson became a rebellious and

publishing books on psychology.

violent teenager, but was a brilliant

After Rayner’s death in 1935

scholar, attending nearby Furman

aged 37, he became a recluse.

University at the age of 16.

After gaining a PhD from the

Key works

University of Chicago, he became

associate professor at Johns

1913
Psychology as the

Hopkins University, where his

Behaviorist Views It

1913 lecture became known as

1920
Conditioned Emotional

the “behaviorist manifesto.” He

Reactions
(with Rosalie Rayner)

worked briefly for the military

1924
Behaviorism

70 JOHN B. WATSON

conditioning as Pavlov had in his

conditioning. This was a new

mother’s distress, but according to

experiments with dogs. The child’s

finding, because previous stimulus–

Watson and Rayner’s own account,

natural response to the noise—fear

response experiments had focused

it occurred on a prearranged date.

and distress—had now become

on testing the learning of physical

associated with the rat. The child

behaviors. Watson had discovered

Infinitely malleable

had become conditioned to respond

that not only can human behavior

Watson’s career was abruptly

to the rat with fear. In terms of

be predicted—given certain stimuli

brought to an end shortly after the

classical conditioning, the rat was

and conditions—it can also be

Little Albert experiments when he

initially a neutral stimulus eliciting

controlled and modified. A further

was forced to resign his professorship

no particular response; the loud

check of Albert’s reactions to the

amid the scandal of his affair with

noise was an “unconditioned

rat, rabbit, and dog one month later

his researcher, Rosalie Rayner.

stimulus” (US) that elicited an

suggested that the effects of this

Despite the incompleteness of his

“unconditioned response” (UR) of

conditioning were long-lasting, but

research, Watson felt vindicated in

fear. After conditioning, the rat had

this could not be proven as Albert

his belief in behaviorism, and more

become a “conditioned stimulus”

was soon after removed from the

particularly the application

(CS), eliciting the “conditioned

hospital by his mother. It has been

of classical stimulus–response

response” (CR) of fear.

suggested that this was a sign of the

conditioning to humans. Perhaps

However, this conditioning

seemed to go deeper than simply a

fear of the white rat, and appeared

to be far from temporary. In order

Doctor

to test whether Albert’s fear had

“generalized,” or spread to other,

similar objects, he was reintroduced

to white furry things—including

a rabbit, a dog, and a sheepskin

coat—five days after the original

Judge

conditioning. Albert showed the

same distressed and fearful

response to these as to the rat.

In these experiments, Watson

demonstrated that human emotions

are susceptible to classical

I shall never be

satisfied until I have

a laboratory in which

Artist

I can bring up

children… under

constant observation.

Watson saw the child

Writer

as the ultimate “blank

John B. Watson

slate.” He claimed that

behaviorist principles

could be used to mold

children into any kind of

specialist, from artist to

doctor, regardless of nature.

BEHAVIORISM 71

because of his forced ejection from

The popularity of his books as

the academic world (into advertising,

childcare “bibles” meant that a

where he was hugely successful) he

whole generation was affected by

developed a tendency to overstate

what can now be seen as a

the scope of his findings, and with

dysfunctional upbringing. Even

a natural gift for self-publicity

Watsonism has become

Watson’s own family suffered:

continued to publish books on

Rosalie eventually saw the flaws

gospel and catechism in the

the subject of psychology.

in her husband’s child-rearing

nurseries and drawing

Not content, for example, to

theories and wrote a critical article

rooms of America.

claim that it is possible to condition

for
Parents’ Magazine
entitled “I

Mortimer Adler

emotional responses, he boasted

Am the Mother of a Behaviorist’s

that on the same principle it would

Sons,” and Watson’s granddaughter,

be possible to control or modify

the actor Mariette Hartley, gave an

almost any aspect of human

account of her disturbed family

behavior, no matter how complex.

background in her autobiographical

Just as Little Albert had been

book
Breaking the Silence
.

conditioned to fear certain white

Alternative approaches to

furry objects against his natural

it is easy to see that his approach,

childcare soon appeared, even

inclination, Watson believed that

based on extreme emotional

among committed behaviorists.

“Anyone, regardless of their nature,

detachment, was at best misguided

While accepting the basic principle

can be trained to be anything.”

and potentially damaging, but his

of conditioning established by

He even boasted in his 1924 book

methods were adopted by millions

Watson (despite the dubious ethics

Behaviorism
: “Give me a dozen

of parents, including Watson and

of the Little Albert experiment),

healthy infants, well-formed, and my

Rosalie Rayner themselves.

and using that as a starting point

own specified world to bring them

The child, Watson believed, is

for his own “radical behaviorism,”

up in and I’ll guarantee to take any

shaped by its environment, and

the psychologist B.F. Skinner was

one at random and train him to

that environment is controlled by

to apply behaviorism to the

become any type of specialist I

the parents. In essence, he saw

business of childcare in a much

might select—doctor, lawyer, artist,

child-raising as an objective exercise

more benign (if eccentric) manner. ■

merchant-chief, and, yes, even

in behavior modification, especially

beggar-man and thief, regardless of

of the emotions of fear, rage, and

his talents, penchants, tendencies,

love. Perhaps understandably, given

abilities, vocations, and race of his

his own unhappy childhood, he

ancestors.” In the “nature versus

dismissed affection as sentimental,

nurture” debate, Watson was firmly

leading to over-dependence of the

on the side of nurture.

child on the parent. But he also

advised against the opposite

Unemotional parenting

emotional extreme and was an

Unable to continue his university

opponent of physical punishment.

research, Watson popularized his

Watson’s questionable application

ideas on behaviorism by turning

of stimulus–response conditioning

his attention to the business of

to childcare eventually drew

childcare. It was in this that his

criticism. Later generations viewed

views proved to be most publicly

the approach as manipulative and

influential, and eventually most

uncaring, with an emphasis on

controversial. Predictably, he

efficiency and results rather than

advocated a strictly behaviorist

on the wellbeing of the child. The

Watson applied his understanding

approach to bringing up children,

long-term damage to children

of human behavior to advertising in the

and throughout the 1920s and 30s

brought up according to Watson’s

1920s, demonstrating that people can

his many books on childcare became

behaviorist model became apparent

be influenced into buying products

immensely popular. In retrospect,

only gradually, but was significant.

through their image, not content.

72

THAT GREAT

GOD-GIVEN MAZE

WHICH IS OUR

HUMAN WORLD

EDWARD TOLMAN (1886–1959)

mental processes, including

IN CONTEXT

A
lthough considered one of

the leading figures of US

perception, cognition, and

behaviorist psychology,

motivation, which he had

APPROACH

Edward Tolman took a very

encountered while studying

Cognitive (“purposive”)

different approach from that of

Gestalt psychology in Germany.

behaviorism

Thorndike and Watson. He agreed

By bridging these two previously

BEFORE

with the basic methodology of

separate approaches, he developed

1890s
Ivan Pavlov’s

behaviorism—that psychology

a new theory about the role of

experiments with dogs

could only be studied by objective,

conditioning, and created what he

establish the theory of

scientific experiments—but was

called “purposive behaviorism,”

classical conditioning.

also interested in ideas about

now called cognitive behaviorism.

1920
John B. Watson conducts

behaviorist experiments on

humans, notably “Little Albert.”

As a rat explores a

…it builds up a

AFTER

maze…

“cognitive map”
of

1938
B.F. Skinner’s research

the area…

into operant conditioning uses

pigeons in place of rats, and

becomes more sophisticated.

Humans create a

1950s
Cognitive psychology